The invention relates to a process apparatus for conveying printed products along a conveying path.
EP 0 557 680 A1 discloses a conveying apparatus for conveying single-leaf or multi-leaf printed products. This apparatus has grippers which are fixedly connected to an endless link chain and move along a closed circulatory path. The printed products are retained approximately at right angles to the conveying direction.
The object of the present invention is to provide a process and an apparatus which are intended for conveying printed products and have increased flexibility as far as the position of the printed products with respect to the conveying direction is concerned.
This object is achieved by a process having the features as claimed in claim 1 and also by an apparatus having the features as claimed in claim 15. The subclaims 2 to 14 relate to further, advantageous configurations of the process according to the invention, and the subclaims 16 and 17 relate to further, advantageous configurations of the apparatus according to the invention.
An advantage of the process according to the invention and of the apparatus according to the invention can be seen by the fact that the gripper is mounted such that it can be rotated with respect to the conveying means, for example an endless link chain, with the result that, despite the predetermined path of the link chain, the printed product retained by the gripper can assume a multiplicity of controllable positions with respect to the conveying direction. A printed product, for example, in a first sub-section of the conveying path, is conveyed with a main surface running at right angles to the conveying direction and, in a second sub-section, is moved into a new position by a rotation of the gripper, with the result that the main surface runs, for example, transversely with respect to, or parallel to, the conveying direction. A printed product can also be rotated through an angle of, for example, 90 degrees or 180 degrees, for example during the conveying operation. The possibility of activating a printed product to rotate it either not at all or through 180 degrees during the conveying operation makes it possible, in addition, to select the alignment of the printed products, with the result that, after such a selecting operation, printed products arranged adjacent to one another along the conveying section, for example, are arranged in each case in opposite directions with respect to one another. Printed products may also be selected, for example, such that ten printed products are arranged along the conveying section such that they run in the same direction and the next ten printed products are arranged along said conveying section such that they run in the opposite direction, with the result that groups of printed products arranged in the same direction are formed.
The actuation of the grippers in order to effect rotation about the axis of rotation can be carried out by a multiplicity of possible arrangements, for example by a slotted-guide control means acting on the gripper or by a guide means acting on the printed product. The gripper may also have a spring element in order to move the gripper automatically into an initial position again after rotation has taken place. The rotatably configured grippers may be fixed on conveying means of different configurations, thus, for example, on a drawing means, on a chain, or on an easily and individually movable carriage. The carriages may also be coupled to one another by means of a pulling connection, it being possible for the pulling connection between the individual carriages, as is known for example from EP 0 309 702, to be formed by a spring element which can be shortened and lengthened elastically.
In one advantageous configuration of the invention, the main surface of a printed product is rotated into a position running parallel to the conveying direction, with the result that the outer surface or else the inner surface can be provided with text individually by a recording head. In a further, advantageous configuration of the invention, the printed products are arranged in a conveying section such that they can be rotated in a controlled manner, thus making it possible for them to be aligned with the gripped side edge or the main surfaces parallel to the alignment of a processing section and discharged in this state to the latter.
A printed product is preferably retained centrally in the region of a side edge by a gripper. However, it is also possible for a printed product to be retained eccentrically by a gripper.
The configuration of a gripper is known, to a person skilled in the art, from the prior art and is thus not described in any detail.